Vertical turret ironworker

ABSTRACT

An ironworker is provided with a vertical turret having spaced tool-holding stations. A ram holder is reciprocally mounted for movement toward and away from a punching station. The turret can rotate a tool holder to said punching station while said ram holder is retracted, and thereafter, the ram holder is returned to support the turret during a punching operation.

United States Patent [191 Daniels VERTICAL TURRET IRONWORKER [75] lnventor: Dennis Daniels, Bellevue, Wash. [73] Assignee: U.S. Amada, Ltd., Seattle, Wash.

[22] Filed: June 5, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 476,414

[52] US. Cl. 83/552; 83/559; 83/618; 83/648 [51] Int. Cl. B2ld 28/26; B2ld 28/36; B26f 1/04 [58] Field of Search 83/552, 559, 549, 618, 83/648; 29/39, 41; 234/99, 100, 113

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1924 Bergen 83/552 X 51 May 13, 1975 5/1928 Craigo 83/552 X 8/1974 Valente 83/552 Primary Examiner-Frank T. Yo st Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Seed, Berry, Vernon & Baynham [57] ABSTRACT An ironworker is provided with a vertical turret having spaced tool-holding stations. A ram holder is reciprocally mounted for movement toward and away from a punching station. The turret can rotate a tool holder to said punching station While said ram holder is retracted, and thereafter, the ram holder is returned to support the turret during a punching operation.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEU MY 1 75 FIG 1 VERTICAL TURRET IRONWORKER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This application pertains to ironworkers of the type used for punching, notching, shearing, etc. of structural members, such as channels, I-beams and the like.

2. Description of the Prior Art Heretofore, ironworkers have employed a horizontal, rotatable turret which carries a plurality of circumferentially spaced, generally unitized tools. The close circumferential spacing of the tools at the punching station in a horizontal-turret ironworker frequently causes interference with large-width work sheets, thus limiting the capacity of the ironworker. Secondly, the turret occupies a large amount of space beneath the punching station, thus making adequate support of the workpiece adjacent the punching station difficult. An improved ironworker having a horizontal turret is described in US. Pat. No. 3,717,059.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide an ironworker that has a maximum amount of workpiece support adjacent the punching station.

It is another object of this invention to provide an ironworker that has a greater capacity than conventional horizontal-turret ironworkers.

It is another object of this invention to provide an ironworker which is inexpensive to manufacture and more versatile than previous ironworkers.

Basically, these objects are obtained by providing a vertical turret having a plurality of tools positionable at a punching station. A ram holder is provided that is movable toward and away from the punching station to enable the turret to arrive at the punching station. The ram holder is provided with a ram-driven striker and a tool-holder support positionable at the punching station.

The vertical turret advantageously delivers the tool to the punching station without having interfering tools horizontally on either side of the tool at the punching station. Furthermore, the workpiece-supporting table can be provided with a relatively small, vertical opening to allow passage of the turret. The turret at the tool holder can be relatively thin so that the workpiecesupport table presents only a very small, unsupported span for the workpiece.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a plan of an ironworker embodying the principles of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken along the lines 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section taken along the lines 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section taken along the lines 4-4 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the ironworker includes a base on which is mounted a turret 12. The turret is mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis 14 by a conventional motor, clutch and brake unit l6.

The turret is provided with a plurality of tool-holding stations 18, each carrying preferably, a set of unitized tooling 20. Other types of tooling may, of course, be used. The turret has a recess 24 and a guiding socket 26 beneath each tool-holding station fora purpose to be described. 7 H

The base also supports a ram holder 28 of any standard configuration, preferably of the C-frame type. The C-frame type has an upper arm 30 that mounts a ram 32 of any conventional type. The. ram operates against a striker 34 in a well-known manner.

The ram holder 28 is also provided with a lower arm 36 that has a wedge 38 that is positionable within the socket 26 for aligning the tool holder of the turret with the ram holder accurately at the punching station. The lower arm also supports the turret at the punching station against striking loads by the ram.

As best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the ram holder 28 is reciprocably mounted on the base 10 and is guided therein by sets of arms 42 that run in guide tracks 44 in the base 10. The ram holder is reciprocated to and from a punching station by a conventional hydraulic cylinder and piston 46.

Any standard type of workpiece-supporting table, such as table 50, can be employed for positioning a workpiece W at the punching station. Preferably, the workpiece-support table will have a plurality of rollers 52 having both endwise and transverse workpiecepositioning mechanisms 54 and 56, respectively. A suitable workpiece-supporting table is described in said US. Pat. No. 3,717,059.

In operation, the turret 12 is rotated, with the tool holder 28 in its retracted position, until the desired tool 20 is positioned at the punching station. Next, the ram holder is returned to a punching station as shown in FIG. 2. In this position, the wedge 38 accurately draws the turret into alignment with the ram holder 28 by sliding into the guide socket 26. The workpiece is then placed in its desired position beneath the punch and the ram energized to make the proper puching operation. Additional punching operations can be performed at other locations on the workpiece by moving the workpiece and/or the workpiece support of the table for the desired positioning.

To place another tool at the station, the workpiece is slid out of the path of the turret and the turret again rotated, while the ram holder is retracted to position the next desired tool at the punching station. The workpiece-holding table is provided with a slot 58 which is slightly greater than the thickness of the turret and a break 60 that is wider than the lower arm 36 for moving the table freely past the turret and ram holder. As is also readily apparent, the thickness of the turret is approximately the same as the width of the tooling 20 so that the slot 58 remains very narrow. Thus, the workpiece is supported substantially all the way along its length for better movement at the punching station.

While the preferred form of the invention has been illustrated and described, it should be understood that variations will be apparent to one skilled in the art without departing from the principles described herein. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited to the specific form described.

The embodiments of the invention in which a particular property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An ironworker having a base, a tool-carrying turret mounted on said base for rotation about a horizontal axis, a ram holder on said base, said ram holder having a striker for engaging a tool on said turret at a punching station beneath said striker and ram means for driving said striker against said tool, tool-support means aligned below said striker, means for moving said ram holder away from said punching station so as to allow passage of said turret for positioning a tool at said punching station and for moving said ram holder toward said punching station to align said striker and tool support with said tool, means for rotating said turret, and means for supporting a workpiece beneath said tool at said punching station.

2. The ironworker of claim 1, said turret having a plurality of spaced stations, each carrying a unitized punch and die.

3. The ironworker of claim 2, said ram holder including a C-frame having a lower arm, said tool-support means including a recess in said lower arm engageable beneath said turret and the unitized tooling.

4. The ironworker of claim 1 including an aligning device at said punching station engageable between said ram holder and said turret to positively align the tool at said punching station.

5. The ironworker of claim 1, said base having a guide track, said ram holder positioned for movement along said guide track, and said ram holder moving means including a hydraulic cylinder and piston for reciprocating the ram holder in said guide track.

6. The ironworker of claim 5 including aligning means between said ram holder and said turret for positively, accurately aligning the tooling at said punching station. 

1. An ironworker having a base, a tool-carrying turret mounted on said base for rotation about a horizontal axis, a ram holder on said base, said ram holder having a striker for engaging a tool on said turret at a punching station beneath said striker and ram means for driving said striker against said tool, toolsupport means aligned below said striker, means for moving said ram holder away from said punching station so as to allow passage of said turret for positioning a tool at said punching station and for moving said ram holder toward said punching station to align said striker and tool support with said tool, means for rotating said turret, and means for supporting a workpiece beneath said tool at said punching station.
 2. The ironworker of claim 1, said turret having a plurality of spaced stations, each carrying a unitized punch and die.
 3. The ironworker of claim 2, said ram holder including a C-frame having a lower arm, said tool-support means including a recess in said lower arm engageable beneath said turret and the unitized tooling.
 4. The ironworker of claim 1 including an aligning device at said punching station engageable between said ram holder and said turret to positively align the tool at said punching station.
 5. The ironworker of claim 1, said base having a guide track, said ram holder positioned for movement along said guide track, and said ram holder moving means including a hydraulic cylinder and piston for reciprocating the ram holder in said guide track.
 6. The ironworker of claim 5 including aligning means between said ram holder and said turret for positively, accurately aligning the tooling at said punching station. 